European Imperialism

1. European Imperialism SS7H1

2. What is “Partitioning”? • Partition (def.): dividing something up, such as a country or colony. • Why is partitioning a bad thing? • Partitioning in Africa led to conflict, civil war, and artificial political boundaries. • What are “artificial political boundaries”? • Borders that exist because of a treaty, agreement, or war.

3. Scramble for Africa • The Scramble (or “Race”) for Africa was the rush to divide up African territories by Europeans. • There were economic, political, and social reasons that Europeans had for wanting to acquire African territories.

4. What is “Imperialism”? • Imperialism (def.): the economic and political domination of one country over another. • European imperialism was when countries in Europe began dominating other civilizations around the world, including those in Africa. • European countries had stronger economies, stronger militaries and weapons, and were more politically organized.

5. Economic Reasons • 1) Need for raw materials. • Industrial Revolution in Europe meant the use of machines was increasing. • Needed materials such as palm oil, copper, rubber, cocoa, and gold (Africa supplied all of these). • European powers divided up Africa so they could have access to these materials.

6. Economic Reasons • 2) Marketing their new products. • Industrial Revolution caused European production to go up, but consumption (the amount people were buying) remained the same. • Europeans had to look for other places to sell their goods. • Africa was used to sell European goods because Africa did not have a market to produce them.

7. Economic Reasons • 3) Need to invest abroad. • Europeans believed that Africa could provide cheap labor. • Businesses began to convince the government to buy African lands for this reason.

8. Economic Reasons • 4) Protect trade. • Europeans had created companies to run businesses in African colonies. • Competition among these companies began to increase. • Trade companies had to start asking for help from African governments.

9. Political Reasons • 1) Balance of power. • After Russo-Turkish war in 1877-1878, Europeans realized everyone was basically equal in power. • No country could spread their influence in Europe without war. • Moved to Africa where there was no resistance.

10. Political Reasons • 2) Prestige. • Europeans wanted to promote the status of their countries worldwide. • Possession of large overseas empires became a status symbol.

11. Political Reasons • 3) Source for soldiers. • Used Africans as soldiers. • These African soldiers fought on the sides of their European leaders during WWI.

12. Political Reasons • 4) Strategic Purposes. • Some African colonies were overtaken because of their more direct trading route to important trading partners like India.

13. Social Reasons • 1) Settlement of population. • Because machines started doing more work, more people found themselves out of a job. • People were sent to look for work in the new European colonies in Africa.

14. Social Reasons • 2) Spread Christianity and Combat Disease. • Europeans wanted to convert Africans to Christianity and “civilize” them. • Some colonies were purchased so Europeans who had certain diseases could be sent there to recover.

15. Social Reasons • 3) End slave trade. • The British colonies led the way to end the slave trade by passing the Emancipation Act.

16. What is “Nationalism”?

17. What is “Nationalism”? • Nationalism (def.): extreme loyalty and devotion to a nation. • Nationalism could be loyalty to a country OR a group of people (such as a tribe). • Many Africans are more loyal to their tribe/group than they are to their home country.

18. What was the “Pan-African Movement”? • Pan-Africanism (def.): ideology and movement that aims to unite all Africans. • Laid the foundation for the African Union (AU). • AU is an international organization promoting cooperation amongst all independent African nations.